NETL’s Natalie Pekney, Ph.D., was awarded the Carnegie Mellon University Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department’s Lieutenant Colonel Christopher K. Raible Distinguished Public Service Award during an alumni event held April 13 in Pittsburgh. 

The award recognizes alumni of CEE who have made significant contributions in military service or through noteworthy accomplishments achieved while employed by a government or non-profit agency in service to the public. The award was created to honor the memory of CEE alumni Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2012.

An environmental engineer, Pekney is a renowned expert in air quality monitoring related to the oil and gas industry and a leader in developing methodologies to quantify fugitive emissions from natural gas infrastructure and orphaned wells. Her research focuses on determining the impact on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions from horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of shale for natural gas production. She also acts as the technical portfolio lead for an NETL program designed to evaluate and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas midstream infrastructure.

At NETL, Pekney leads a program that uses a range of innovative technologies to find orphaned wells, many of which were abandoned before ownership records were kept or are hidden by debris and vegetation, and other oil and gas infrastructure that can leak significant amounts of methane.

Fieldwork projects for Pekney and her team have included locating and measuring emissions from wells in Oklahoma, New York, Pennsylvania and the Daniel Boone National Forest, which spans 21 counties in eastern Kentucky.

Pekney has been instrumental in the application of aerial techniques to advance her work. NETL has used magnetometers on helicopters to accurately search large areas for the presence of undocumented wells but when small, lightweight magnetometers became available in 2015, Pekney’s team transitioned from helicopter to drone magnetic surveys, which lowered the cost of well-location surveys.

A few of Pekney’s other key NETL accomplishments include:

• Creation of NETL’s trailer-based lab for ambient measurements of pollutants.
• Establishment of successful monitoring projects at sites in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland.
• Design of approaches for measuring greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production and transmission activities.
• Development of ways to measure methane emissions from abandoned oil and natural gas wells and natural gas compressor stations.

Since joining NETL in 2008, Pekney has supported NETL’s efforts to create career opportunities for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). As part of these efforts, Pekney has participated in events such as GirlCon, a conference to inspire and empower young women to serve as the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Pekney has also served as a mentor for early-career researchers and students who come to NETL through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program.

In 2022, she received the Arthur S. Flemming Award, one of the nation’s top honors presented to federal employees.

Click here to watch a video about Pekney’s career path and her work at NETL.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By using its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.